The Center for Human Rights

Africa

Annie Fairman '07 - Cape Town, South Africa
I had no idea that when I said I wanted to go to South Africa anyone would even believe me, let alone help me to go. It was just sort of one of those things I said to hear what it sounded like coming out of my mouth, and then when I liked the way it sounded I researched it online and liked the way it sounded in research, and then Gordon Aelishman from the South Africa Community Fund offered to help coordinate a place for me to stay, and told me about working at Fikelela Children’s Home, and then I could hardly contain my excitement. In all honesty, it wasn’t until I was looking at a flight map from my airplane seat that showed us flying above the Kalahari Desert that I started to realize this had all materialized, that I was en route to Cape Town, and it was no longer about how it sounded or made me feel. Click here to view full article.

Takako Mino '11: Uganda, Rwanda, & Ghana

The summer of 2009, Takako interned at the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC), Uganda's leading economic policy research institution. As an intern, she wrote proposals, collect and analyze data, conducted research, and undertook additional special projects. In her capacity as a research assistant, Takako aided the executive director with her research in areas crucial to Ugandan development, such as food security, child nutrition, higher education, and poverty reduction. Through this opportunity, Takako had the opportunity to familiarize herself with Ugandan economic development policies and improve her analytical skills in evaluating the effects of governmental policies by working with Uganda's top economic policy experts.

Takako traveled to Ghana to visit WomensTrust, a microfinance institution in the Pokuase region. The purpose of this visit was to evaluate the institution to determine whether CMC students would benefit from interning there and to learn more about microfinance institutions and their impact on clients.

Update from Uganda
I have enjoyed my research at the Economics Policy Research Centre in Kampala. A researcher and I collected data and conducted interviews during our field trip to the northeastern district of Soroti. We discussed with the local laborers about how employment in public works has helped them earn money to buy food in order to survive the famine. (Drought in the region has led to famine and many deaths due to starvation.)